Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Castle Donington, Leicestershire, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and East Midlands Airport (EMA), Castle Donington, Leicestershire, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,775 miles (or 9,295 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Upington Airport and East Midlands Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Upington Airport and East Midlands Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Upington Airport (UTN):

• From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• Many major car manufacturers bring their cars and commercial vehicles to Upington to test them in the hot dry and sunny conditions.
• The Concorde did flight testing at Upington Airport in June 1976.
• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• As well as improvements to the airport itself, ACSA will be preparing land around the airport for development to support the inevitable boost to the local economy.

Facts about East Midlands Airport (EMA):

• The airport was originally a Royal Air Force station, RAF Castle Donington, which was decommissioned in 1946.
• East Midlands Airport handled 4,334,117 passengers last year.
• East Midlands Airport (EMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The DEMAND Campaign was formed in 2004 to campaign against night flights at the airport and against increasing levels of noise generally.
• EMA replaced the smaller pre-war grass airfield at Derby Burnaston, and the base's light aircraft later moved to a new site at Derby Egginton Airfield near Hilton.
• Because of East Midlands Airport's relatively low elevation of 306 feet, planes can take off or land at East Midlands Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• Other airlines operating from the airport include Aurigny Air Services, Eastern Airways and summer holiday charters by Freebird Airlines, Onur Air and BH Air.
• The airport has excellent connections to the motorway network as it is near the M1 and M42, bringing the airfield within easy reach of the major population centres of the Midlands.
• By 2006, annual passengers had reached 4.72 million, twelfth highest in the UK.
• The closest airport to East Midlands Airport (EMA) is RAF Cottesmore (OKH), which is located 29 miles (47 kilometers) ESE of EMA.
• The furthest airport from East Midlands Airport (EMA) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.